Thill-releasing device.



1). A. DERBY. THILL RELEASING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED sums, 1912.

Patented July 22, 1913.

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COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH CO..\VASHINOTON. n, c.

D. A. DERBY. THILL BELEASING DEVICE. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. a, 1912.

1,068, 328. Patented July 1913.

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DAVID A. DERBY, OF KIT CARSON, COLORADO.

THILL-RELEASING DEVICE.

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Application filed September 6, 1912.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To czZZ whom it may concern Be it known that l, Dnvn) A. Danny, acitizen of the United States, residing at Kit Carson, in the county ofCheyenne and State of Colorado, have invented new and useful.lnipro-vemcnts in Thillteleasing Devices,

of which the following a specification.

The invention relates to carriages and wagons and has for an object toprovide a device for releasin the thills from connection with a vehicleand for securing the forward part of the running gear of the vehicle inposition to retain the vehicle on the highway after the thills have beenreleased there- 5 from.

The invention embodies, among other features, a manually operativedevice arranged so that the same can be conveniently operated by thedriver or other operator of the vehicle to release the thills from thevehicle 111 the case of a run away horse, means being provided to securethe front or guiding axle of the vehicle in ri 'id position to maintainthe vehicle on the highway, after the thills have been released from thevehicle.

In the further disclosure of the invention reference is to be had to theaccompanying drawings constituting a part of this speci tication inwhich similar characters of referonce denote corresponding parts in allthe views, and in which:

Figure l is a side elevation showing the device in initial position;Fig. 2 is a front elevation; Fig. is a vertical longitudinal sectionalview taken on the line 33 in Fig.

2, showing the device in final. position; Fig. l: is a horizontalsectional view taken on the line at-at in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is afragmentary vertical longitudinal sectional view of one of the lockingmembers and the rack bar thereof; Fig. 6 is an enlarged verticalsectional view of one of the thill couplings showing the means forsecini'ing the thill to the coupling.

Referring more particularly to the views, ll disclose a vehicle 10provided with the usual swivelly mounted axle It at the front thereofthe said axle havin suitable thill x 7 h couplings 12 secured theretoinwhich the rear ends of thills 14: are releasably received,spring-actuated pins 14c being mounted to slide on the thill couplings12 to releasably retain the thills in connection with the saidcouplings, the said thills being releasable from the said couplings whenthe mentioned pins are pulled outwardly from the thill couplings againstthe action of springs 15 engaging the pins to lun'nially retain the samein securing position on the thill couplings. i

Connected to the pins are cords 16 having connection with the forwardends of 5- shaped levers 17 arranged in crossed rela tion and havingpivotal connection at their medial portions with the axle ll, cords 18being connected to the rear ends of the crossed levers l7 and extendingrearmirdly beneath the body of the vehicle 10 to connect with ahorizontally arranged plate 19 having a slot 20 tlni'ough which passes abell. crank lever 21 mounted to swing on the under side of the vehiclewith the upper end of the bell crank lever extending through an openingin the floor of the vehicle and termin-ating in a handle 22, thementioned bell crank lever 21 being mounted in the vertical longitudinalplane of the said vehicle. Arms 23 are mounted to swing from the underside of the vehicle body at the front end thereof, the said arms, whenin lowered position, being adapted to abut against the rear face of theaxle 11. The arms are engaged by springs .34- adapted to move the armsdownwardly rods 25 being pivotally connected to the arms 23 andextending rearnarrdly and upwardly with the upper ends of the said rodshaving pivotal con- .nection with toothed locking members 26 mounted toslide on rack bars 27 secured to the under side of the vehicle adjacentthe side edges thereof. The teeth of the said rack bars are formed onthe under sides thereof in order to be engaged by the teeth of thelocking members so when the said locking members are in forward pos ionon. the rack bars, the arms 23 being at this time in lowered position.so that the locking members will lock the arms in lowered position withthe lower ends of ti 2 arms abutting against the rear face of the axle11 to secure the same in rigid position in a plane perpendicular to thelongitudinal plane of the vehicle. Now the teeth on the under side ofthe rack bars are adapted to extend or be inclined forwardly and theteeth on the locking members are inclined. rearwardly when the arms arein raised position and are permitted to gravitate into lowered posi'tion, the locking members will easily slide forward on the rack bars,while at the same time the locking inelnbi-ars will prevent the arms 23from being moved upwardly by the exertion of a rearward pressure on thearms by the axle 11.

Supporting members 28 are mounted to swing on the under side of thevehicle 10 and the outer ends of the supporting members are adapted tobe engaged by knobs 29 projecting from the inner faces of the said arms23, to support the arms 23 in initial position and prevent the same fromgravi tating into lowered position, the inner ends of the members 28being adapted to engage a rear face of the bell crank lever 21, springs30 being connected to the members 28 and terminating in a single cord 31having connection with the pin adapted to retain the levers 17 inpivotal connection with the axle 11.

In the use of my device, if the horse attached to the thills Should runaway, an upward pull is exerted on the handle 22, thus swinging thelower part of the bell crank lever 21 rearwardly to exert a pull on thecords 16 and move the pins 1 against the action of the springs 15thereof, thus releasing the thills from the axle 11, this beingaccomplished through the medium of the crossed lever 17 havingconnection with the bell crank 21 through the medium of the cords 18. Atthe moment the bell crank lever 21 is operated to release the thillsfrom the axle 11, the rearward movement of the lower part of the bellcrank lever will swing the inner ends of the members 28 rearwardly,against the action of the springs 30, thus swinging the outer ends ofthe members 28 forwardly and out of engagement with the knobs 29 of thearms 23, thus releasing the arms 23 so that the same can readilygravitate into lowered position as shown in Fig. 3, the front faces ofthe arms being adapted to engage the rear face of the axle 11 adjacentthe ends thereof and retain the axle in rigid position and in a plane atright angles to the longitudinal plane of the vehicle so that thevehicle will not tend to move from the highway, it being readilyunderstood that if the axle 11 were not locked in rigid position asmentioned, the momentum of the vehicle would tend to carry the same offof the highway if the axle were free to move in any direction relativelyto the vehicle, it being further seen that the arms 23 will be retainedin lowered and locked position by the locking members 26 engaging thetoothed portions of the rack bars 27, thus securely retaining the axle11 in a posit-ion transverse to the longitudinal plane of the vehicle.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe From the foregoing description it will thus be seen that by simplyoperating the bell crank lever 21, the thills will be released fromconnection with the vehicle and the guiding or forward axle of thevehicle will be secured in rigid position to prevent the vehicle fromleaving'the highway or being overturned from the highway.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination with members forreleasably connecting the thills of a vehicle to the axle thereof, ofarms mounted to swing on the vehicle and movable to engage the said axleand retain the same in a position transverse to the longitudinal alaneof the vehicle, means for actuating the said members to release the saidthills from the axle of the said vehicle and simultaneously release thesaid arms and permit the same to gravitate into engagement with the saidaxle, and locking members movable on the under side of the vehicle toretain the said arms in lowered and locked position.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination with arms mountedon the under side of a vehicle and movable to engage the axle of thevehicle and retain the same in rigid position on the vehicle, of meansfor releasing the said arms to permit the same to gravitate intoengagement with the said axle, rack bars secured to the under side ofthe vehicle, and locking members movable on the said rack bars to lockthe said arms in engagement with the said axle.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination with arms mountedon the un der side of a vehicle and movable to lock the axle thereon inrigid position, of pins for releasably retaining the thills of thevehicle in engagement therewith, a bell crank lever 100 mounted on thevehicle and movable to simultaneously release the said thills fromengagement with the said vehicle and release the said arms to permit thesame to move into engagement with the said axle, and locking membersconnected with the said arms and movable on the under side of the saidvehicle to lock the said arms in engagement with the said axle.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature 110 in presence of twowitnesses.

DAVID A. DERBY.

FJitnesses A. 0. ennis, Jas. lV. BROWN.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

